The South African iTunes Store is Finally here!

Many of you are probably familiar with iTunes and the iTunes Store. Great news is that the South African iTunes store was finally launched yesterday. Apple also announced iTunes Stores for 49 other countries.

I finally started using the South African iTunes Store tonight and I must say that I’m impressed. The songs are not overpriced. Most songs are selling for between R6,99 and R8,99. I was craving the new Bittereinder so I bought their second album for a whopping R69 and told everyone on Facebook.

One friend responded and told me that he had paid R130 for a hard copy of the album in a store. Like I told you, I’m impressed with the prices for the songs. That doesn’t mean that I don’t want CDs with booklets – there’s something nostalgic about that and I’ll never get over it. It’s just quick and convenient to buy music on the South African iTunes store (or any iTunes store for that matter). Best thing of it all is that it’s 100% legal.

The only thing that sucks about the South African iTunes store is that you can’t buy any videos, games or applications yet. I’m pretty sure that this will change in the future though.

I have to admit that I’m not an Apple fan, but I have to admire the iTunes store. Since February 2010 iTunes has been the most popular global music distribution method. More than 16 billion songs have been bought and downloaded via the iTunes store since 2003.

The introduction of a South African iTunes store is a huge boast for the SA Music scene and has many local music fans excited beyond belief. It would be interesting to hear the figures of the amount of songs downloaded via the new store by South Africans this time next year.

Watch this space for regular updates in the Music News category on Running Wolf’s Rant.